The city of Starkville could soon become a Mississippi Main Street community, which would give the city additional tools to promote economic development downtown.
The Starkville Visitors & Convention Council, a member agency of the Greater Starkville Development Partner-ship, committed funds last week in their monthly advisory board meeting for staffing and association dues to move forward with Starkville's application process to become a Mississippi Main Street Association community.
The Starkville Downtown Business Association voted Monday to amend their by-laws to transfer duties to Starkville Main Street under the GSDP, effective Sunday, pending approval by the Mississippi Main Street Association.
"The CVB board felt that pursuing Main Street designation was a prudent use of funds to further enhance our community for visitors and residents alike," said VCC advisory board chair Michelle Jones.
Mississippi Main Street Association is a program of the National Trust for Historic Preservation and the Mississippi Development Authority. The mission of the Mississippi Main Street Association is to provide leadership, guidance and counsel to Mississippi Main Street communities through organization, promotion, design and economic development to make Mississippi cities and towns better places to work, live and play.
Jennifer Gregory, GSDP vice president for tourism development, will take on the additional role of Starkville Main Street manager, and Robyn Cain, GSDP administrative assistant, will transfer into a new role as Starkville Main Street program coordinator, all effective Sunday.
Melissa Dixon, president of the Starkville Downtown Business Association, hopes to see the SDBA fall under the umbrella of the Mississippi Main Street organization.
"As a two-year president of the SDBA, I know how difficult it can be to pull together promotions and events on a strictly volunteer basis," Dixon said. "I am thrilled that when the SDBA transfers its duties to Starkville Main Street, downtown will actually have paid staff members on hand to coordinate promotions and keep us on track."
"It's such a blessing because, before, we had a very limited budget to do what we wanted and we had very limited volunteers, so a lot of times we were short of our goals because of those limitations," she added. "Just to have some people on staff every day is going to make a big difference."
VCC officials went before the Starkville Board of Aldermen July 20 to request support from Mayor Parker Wiseman and the board through a signed proclamation. Aldermen then passed a resolution of support.
"It's an excellent program and it will serve the development of downtown Starkville very well," Wiseman said.
Gregory will work with Jones and Mississippi Main Street officials to complete the application process by late July.
Mississippi Main Street has many strategic partners in Mississippi, including the Mississippi Development Authority, Mississippi Division of Tourism, Mississippi Department of Archives and History, Mississippi Arts Commission, Mississippi Heritage Trust, Mississippi Urban Forestry Council, the Carl Small Town Center at the Mississippi State University School of Architecture and the MSU Community Action Team.
